Transfer labeling machine



Dec. 10, 1963 R. A. PHIPPS TRANSFER LABELING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 19606 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATT'Y'S.

Dec. 10, 1963 R. A. PHIPPS TRANSFER LABELING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Sept. 8, 1960 ATT'XS.

Dec. 10, 1963 R. A. PHIPPS 3,113,904

TRANSFER LABELING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 10,1963 R. A. PHlPPs TRANSFER LABELING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1960 6Sheets-Sheet 4 I I! Illlllltllll n'llllfillllallli N v E N TO R.

fiass'e/Z J7. J l w w ATT'YS.

Dec. 10, 1963 R. A. PHIPPS 3,113,904

TRANSFER LABELING mcmm:

Filed Sept. 8. 1960 6Sheets-Sheet 5 N N I 2 LO 2 f 0 INVE NTOR. 1mg;JZLF/id/J ATT'YS.

Dec. 10, 1963 R. A. PHIPPS 3,113,904

TRANSFER LABELING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 [FIGT \sINVENTOR. Iwyel/ J2. Paw v:

ATTYS.

United States Patent Ofilice 3,113,904 Patented Dec. 10, 1963 3,1133%TRANSFER LABELING MACHENE Russell A. Phipps, Woodville, Mass assignor toDennison Manufacturing Company, Framingharn, Mass, a corporation ofMassachusetts Filed Sept. 8, 1969, Ser. No. 546% 9 Claims. 8i. 156541)This invention relates to a transfer labeling machine of the generaltype involved in United States Patent of Gottscho et al., No. 2,874,499.In machines of that type a rotatable die segment presses a label againstthe article to be labeled, and under the influence of heat and pressurethe label adheres to the surface of the article. While hot, the labelhas little adhesion for the label-carrying strip which has presented itto the die. Thus it is possible to detach the label-carrying strip fromthe label and leave the label adhering to the article.

In general the invention aims to improve the certainty with which thelabel-carrying strip is detached or caused to break away from eachsuccessive label. If there is any delay in break away so that there isany slight cooling of the film between the ink of the label and thepaper of the label-carrying strip, this film will reharden and some ofthe ink which should form part of the applied label will instead becarried off by the label strip. The invention involves control oftension and direction of the label-carrying strip with a view to makingthe break away as reliable as possible.

In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a partly diagrammatic front elevation of the machine;

PEG. 2 is a partly diagrammatic rear elevation;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic View taken from the same point of view as FIG.1 but showing principally structure which is behind the front plate,mainly a train of driving connections which lie between the front andrear plates;

FIG. 4 is a generally vertical sectional view on the line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4a is similar to FIG. 4, being taken on that portion ta-4a of theline 4-4 so indicated in FIG. 1;

KG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view in which parts are omitted and brokenaway, taken generally on the line 6--6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic View from the front of the machine showing theposition of the label-carrier strip during inaction of the die; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing the strip leaving the activesurface of the die.

The drawings show mainly the operative head of the machine, it beingunderstood that this head can be applied to various base structureswhich will support the material or articles being labeled.

For separate articles, conveyor structure appropriate to the articleswill be selected and the head applied thereto. In the drawings suchconveying structure is diagrammatically shown at 20, comprising anelement moving in a plane and, if desired, having suitable cleats 21 forengaging articles 22 which may be containers having fiat surfaces.

For applying labels to webs there may be substituted suitable webconveying mechanism and a back-up roll for holding the web against thedie, as in said Patent No. 2,874,499, such a roll being shown in phantomline in FIG. 1.

The main frame of the head comprises a front plate 25, PEG. 1, and arear plate 26, FIG. 2, connected by suitable cross connections includinga bottom web 27 and sleeve 28. Various shafts also extend between andare mounted in bearings in these plates as will be apparent.

A main drive shaft 30 extends through bushings in both plates. The mainshaft is suitably driven and is supported in exterior supports anditself constitutes the support for one end of the head. The head can beshifted laterally toward or away from the observer in either FIG. 1 orFIG. 2, along the main drive shaft 30, to position the device to act onthe desired part of an article or to accommodate articles of differentsizes. The head may also be swung counterclockwise in FIG. 1 andclockwise in FIG. 2 about the shaft 30 to give access to parts which areotherwise inaccessible.

The end of the head opposite to the main drive shaft 30 is supported byan adjusting pin 32 Whose lower end rests on some stationary abutment 33upon the base structure.

The pin 32 extends through and is screw-threaded into a plug 34 withinthe tube 28. By rotational adjustment of the pin, the end of the headcan be raised and lowered with a fine degree of vaccuracy, to adjust thepressure of application of the label.

The driving connections are mostly shown in FIGv 3, aided by referenceto FIGS. 1 and 2. A gear 49 splined on the continually rotating maindrive shaft 30, drives the continually rotating gear 41 of aone-revolution clutch 42 of a well-known construction. Gear 41 has fastthereon a sprocket 43 which turns continuously as a part of drivingconnections to label-strip rewinding mechanism explained below. Theclutch trip lever 45 is Withdrawn from the clutch trip cam 46 by anelectrical impulse energizing a solenoid 48. The solenoid 48 may becontrolled by switching means under the control of any suitable timingmeans, and for example, as described by said patent, the timing of theswitching means may be accomplished by a machine which uses the labeledweb in the case of operating the labeling machine to label a web.

One impulse applied to the solenoid accordingly permits one revolutionof the output portion of the clutch 42 which carries a gear 50. Throughan idler gear 51 this one revolution imparts one revolution to a gear 52fast on a shaft 53 on which is fast a cylinder or wheel 54, FIG. 1,carrying the heated segmental die or iron 55.

Returning to FIG. 3, gear 52 through idler gear 58 drives a gear 59which is loose upon sprocket shaft 60. Gear 59 serves to drive the shaft60 frictionally through friction members 61, FIG. 4. The shaft 60carries at the front side of the machine, FIG. 1, a sprocket wheel ordrum 63, and at the rear side of the machine, FIG. 2, a ratchet wheel65.

A cam 67 (FIG. 2) on the rear of the die wheel shaft 53 operates througha follower roll 68 and arm 69 (pivoted at 70) to release a pawl 71 fromthe ratchet wheel at the start of each revolution of the die wheel andto permit re-engagement of the pawl and ratchet under the influence of aspring 73 at the end of a fraction of a revolution of the sprocketwheel.

As indicated in FIG. 1, the label strip S is guided to the sprocketwheel 63 by idler rolls and 82 and a plurality of tensioning members 81and is guided away from the sprocket wheel and toward the heated diewheel 54 by idler rolls 83 and 84. By operation of the drivingconnections above described, for each revolution of the heated diewheel, corresponding to the application of one label, the sprocket wheel63 delivers to the die wheel a definite length of label strip.

The label strip is supplied from a spool 85, FIG. 1. One flange of thisspool carries fast thereon a brake drum 7, FIG. 4. A brake shoe 89, FIG.1, carried by a block is adapted to bear against the drum. A bell crank91,

pivoted at 92, is pivoted to the block 91 and a spring 95 urges the bellcrank to apply the brake. Bell crank 91 carries a guide roll 97 whichreceives the label strip from an idler roll 98 over which the stripinitially runs in coming off the spool, and roll 97 in turn delivers thelabel strip to the idler roll 85.

Rotation of the sprocket wheel 63, tends to cause the label strip todraw the roll 97 and depending arm of the bell crank 91 toward theright, thus tending to release the brake. At the same time this movementof the bell crank supplies label strip for travel toward the sprocketwheel in advance of corresponding rotation of the spool '85. As aconsequence, the label strip is not called upon to impart a quickacceleration to the spool, and undue strain on the label strip is thusavoided. The brake 89 controlled by the tension in the label strip,prevents the spool from overrunning. In fast operation, a balancedcondition is obtained in which the unwinding from the spool is at apractically constant rate just sufiicient to supply in a substantiallycontinuous manner the quantity of label strip calledfor by thesuccessive intermittent movements of the sprocket wheel.

The re-winding spool 155 is driven by connections which include thepreviously mentioned constantly rotating sprocket wheel 4-3 of FIG. 3, achain 107, sprocket wheel 1118, jack shaft 1119 which re-appears in FIG.1, sprocket Wheel 1113, FIG. 1, chain 111 and sprocket wheel 112.

Referring to FIG. 5, the constantly rotating sprocket wheel 112 isfreely rotatable relative'to the shaft 114 of the rewinder spool andcarries fast thereon a pressure disc 115 adapted to bear against a ring116 of friction material which is fast on the ub 117 of the spool. Theextent to which the spool is driven depends upon the pressure of disc115 against ring 116. This pressure is increased as slack increases inthe winding strip and reduced as slack decreases, by means of suitableconnections such as the following.

A stationary sleeve 120 fast on the frame plate 25 and surrounding theshaft 114 is screw-threaded on the right hand part of its cylindricalexterior surface. A ring 121 has threaded engagement with the sleeve.Ring 1211 has a crank 123 extending therefrom. When the crank is movedtoward the observer in FIG. ring 121 is displaced toward the right andacts through the casing 125 of a thrust bearing 126 to apply force to acollar 127 which is adjustably held on the rewinder spool shaft 114 by alocking nut 128. This action tends to force the shaft to the right,increasing the pressure between the friction material 116 and thepressure ring 115 and causing the spool to be driven.

When the crank 123 is progressively moved away from the observer in FIG.5, pressure of the ring 121 upon the thrust bearing casing 125 isprogressively relaxed, pressure of the friction material 116 upon thedisc 115 is correspondingly relaxed, more slippage occurs and thewinding up is reduced.

Crank 123 is controlled by the condition of tension or slack in thewinding label strip by suitable means such as the following. The labelstrip S from which the labels have been transferred is led up in FIG. 1,over a dancing roll 130, and thence down onto the winding body of labelstrip on the rewinding spool 1115. Dancing roll 130 is carried by a bellcrank 132 best seen from the rear of the machine. in FIG. 2, and thisbell crank 132 operates through a link 134 to shift the crank 123.

Bell crank 132 is rotatably mounted on a stationary sleeve 136, FIG. 4a,on an extension of the shaft 137 of the winding spool.

A coil spring 13 8, interposed between the bell crank 132 and sleeve135, urges the crank toward the observer in FIG. 4a, tending to lift thedancing roll 130, FIG. 1, tending to operate the rewinding spool,thereby causing a basic tension to be applied to the used label strip inits indirect course toward the winding spool 105.

The previously described friction drive for the winding spool, undercontrol of the dancing roll 13f insures that the label strip is wound upat an average rate such as to accommodate the intermittently fed labelstrip.

in usual operation, the rotation of the die wheel 54 and the rotation ofthe feed sprocket 53 are both intermittent. As indicated above, rotationof the die wheel is initiated and stopped by the one revolution clutch42. Rotation of the die wheel shaft 53 operates through the cam 67, FIG.2, to disengage the pawl 71 from the ratchet wheel 65 and permit thefeed sprocket to be driven. The timing here is in general such that theleading edge of a label on the label strip will coincide with theleading edge of the die segment as the latter reaches the article or webto be labelled.

Exact longitudinal registration of the label strip relative to the diesegment is secured by rotational shift of certain of the strip guidingmembers around the axis of the sprocket wheel. As shown, the guide wheel81 tensioning members 51 and the guide rolls 82 and 83 are carried by aplate 141} which is rotatable around the axis of the sprocket wheel andrelative to an interior stationary ring 1411a, FIG. 4. An adjustingscrew 1 12 is threaded into a block 143 (FIGS. 1 and 4) which isrotatable in the plate 141). As indicated in P18. 1 the right end ofscrew 142 is rotatably mounted in a block 144 rotatably carried by plate25. Turning the screw thus turns the plate 141 and those strip guidingmembers carried thereby. Shifting the guiding members in this way variesthe length of path from the sprocket teeth to the line of contact ofstrip and die segment, without, however, varying the extent of wrap ofthe strip around the sprocket. A relatively large shift of the guidingmembers 86, 81, 82 and '83 can be made without interfering with theother parts and without affecting the relation of the strip to thetensioning members 81. The longitudinal registration adjustment can thusbe used for both large adjustments incident to changes from labels ofone length to labels of a different length, and also for fine adjustmentfor exactness of registration of a given size of label.

For exact lateral registration of the labels relative to the die wheeland article or web, provision is made for a micrometer adjustment of thesprocket wheel laterally of the strip path.

A rotatable spindle 1511 can be rotated manually by its knob 15-1 torotate a threaded shaft 152, FIG. 6, through bevel gears 153 and 154.Shaft 152 is threaded into a slidable block 155 which is slotted toreceive a flange 158, fast on the sprocket wheel. The sprocket wheel hasa splined connection 159 with its shaft 611, and so can be shiftedlaterally by operating the spindle 159.

The first or upper right hand tension member 81 differs from the othertension members 81 by including a central rod 81a which is fixed to therotatably adjustable plate 141) and a tube 31b slidable on this rod 81a.Fast to the rear and of this tube 81b is an arcuate rear side guide forthe label strip, slotted to receive the flange 153 of the sprocket wheel(PEG. 4) so that lateral adjustment of the sprocket wheelcorrespondingly adjusts the rear side guide.

An arcuate shaped front side guide 164 is adjustably secured to the tube81b so as to accommodate strips of various size.

A shaft 100 is oscillated clockwise in FIG. 2 through a crank 1011a andlink 151111 from lever 65 as the cam 67 causes the pawl 71 to disengagethe ratchet wheel 65. As shown in FIG. 1 shaft 111d) carries a bellcrank 1151 having a short arm 1111a carrying a guide roll and a long arm1111b carrying a guide roll 171. The shaft 159 carries a further freelyrotatable guide roll 172. The label strip is guided around rolls 175,172 and 171 in its course from the guide roll 84 to dancing roll 130.FIGS. 1 and 7 show the strip path when the segmental die 55 is inactive.In this position the co-operating guide rolls 84 and 175 define astraight horizontal course which is substantially tangent to the paththrough which the die surface will move. This positioning of the stripwill keep the stationary strip out of contact with any of the structureof the hot die wheel 53. In this inactive condition of the strip thetake up mechanism which includes dancing roll 130 will be applying theintended basic tension of the strip.

While the die 55 is in the act of transferring the label to the articleor web as in FIG. 8, the bell crank 101 will occupy the shifted positionshown in that figure, in which the strip is guided away from the surfaceof the article or web in an upwardly inclined path. This upwardlyinclined path to the left of the vertical center line of die wheel 54 inFIG. '8 represents an approach toward the die axis of part of thehorizontal run of strip shown in FIG. 7 and a corresponding withdrawalof the label-carrier strip away from the path of the surface receivingthe label. In the case of a fiat surfaced article this introduces adivergence between the path of the strip and the path of the surface,and in the case of a web, passing over a backup roll, this increases thedivergence of the respective courses of strip and web. In either case,the change in path of guidance of the strip assists in insuring quickand reliable break away of the strip from the label.

The starting up of the feed of the label strip and the shifting of thecourse of the label strip are not allowed to introduce any momentarylack of tension which would work against reliable break-away of thestrip.

The dancing roll 13% affords a means for taking up slack. However, it isdesirable to anticipate the action of the dancing roll as the labelstrip begins to feed and is shifted to its new position. This isaccomplished as follows. The strip, as indicated in FIGS. 7 and 8,extends directly from guide roll 171 to the dancing roll 130. Shift ofthe guide roll 171 from its position of FIG. 7 to its position of FIG. 8represents an appreciable downward movement of this roll relative to theposition of dancing roll 130 in FIG. 7, for instance about 4 inch.Although the shift of guide roll 170 to the position of FIG. 8 wouldtend to shorten the indirect course of the strip from the line of actionof the die to the spool, this is more than offset by the action of guideroll 171, and the movement of both guide rolls combined tends to enlargethe course. The roll 130 which is yieldingly biased is, of course, freeto follow the downward movement of roll 171 so far as required tostabilize the tension and prevent any excess. However, the movement ofroll 171 slightly away from roll 130 acts to insure that break-away ofthe strip is initiated under full tension.

I claim:

1. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having a segmentalactive surface, label carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel carrier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, a plurality of strip guides for the label carrier strip whichhas passed the die, a winding spool for the strip, the strip having anindirect course from the line of action of the die around said stripguides and to the spool, one of said guides adjacent to the die beingmovable bodily transversely of the course of the strip to allow thestrip to move toward the die axis and by such movement withdraw awayfrom the path of a surface receiving the label from the strip, means forso moving the last named guide in timed relation to the delivery ofsuccessive labels of the strip to the die, another of said guides beingmovable in synchronism with the last named guide through a path sorelated to the course of the strip that such movement of both guidescombined tends materially to enlarge said course of the strip, and ayieldingly loaded guide movable by the strip in said course.

2. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having a segmentalactive surface, label carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel carrier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, a plurality of strip guides for the label carrier strip whichhas passed the die, a winding spool for the strip, the strip having anindirect course from the line of action of the die around said stripguides and to the spool, one of said guides adjacent to the die beingpositioned to hold the strip away from the die axis and being movablebodily transversely of the course of the strip to allow the strip tomove toward the die axis and by such movement withdraw away from thepath of a surface receiving the label from the strip, means for somoving the last named guide in timed relation to the delivery ofsuccessive labels of the strip to the die, another of said guides beingmovable in synchronism with the last named guide through a path sorelated to the course of the strip that such movement of both guidescombined tends materially to enlarge said course of the strip, and ayieldingly loaded guide movable by the strip in said course.

3. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having a segmentalactive surface, label carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel car-rier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, a plurality of strip guides for the label carrier strip whichhas passed the die, a winding spool for the strip, the strip having anindirect course from the line of action of the die around said stripguides and to the spool, one of said guides adjacent to the die beingmovable bodily transversely of the course of the strip to allow thestrip to move toward the die axis and by such movement withdraw awayfrom the path of a surface receiving the label from the strip, means forso moving the last named guide in timed relation to the delivery ofsuccessive labels of the strip to the die, another of said guides beingmovable in synchronism with the last named guide through a path sorelated to the course of the strip r' that such movement of both guidescombined tends materially to enlarge said course of the strip, ayieldingly loaded guide movable by the strip in said course, and drivingmeans for the winding spool under control of said yieldingly loadedguide.

4. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having .asegmental active surface, label carrier strip delivery means fordelivering the label carrier strip to the die with successive labels inregister with the die, a winding spool for the label carrier strip whichhas passed the die, the strip having an indirect course from the line ofaction of the die to the winding spool, means for intermittentlyoperating the die .and strip delivering means, strip guiding meansmovable bodily transversely of the course of the strip in timed relationto the operation of the strip delivering means to modify said course ina manner tending materially to enlarge said course and simultaneouslycause a part of the strip ad jacent to the die to withdraw away from thepath of a surface receiving the label, and a yieldingly loaded meansmovable in a direction to enlarge said course for tensioning the stripbetween the die and winding spool.

5. A label-applying machine for transferring labels fnom a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having a segmentalactive surface, label carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel carrier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, a winding spool for the label carrier strip which has passedthe die, the strip having an indirect course from the line of action ofthe die to the winding spool, means for intermittently operating the dieand strip delivering means, strip guiding means engaging the strip insaid course and including two guides, and means for moving said guidessimultaneously through different distances, such movement of each guidebeing a bodily move ment transversely of the course of the strip, theone of said guides nearer to the line of action of the die being movablethrough the lesser distance and permitting the strip to move toward thedie axis and withdraw away from the path of a surface receiving thelabel.

6. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comprising a rotary die having a segmentalactive surface, label carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel carrier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, a winding spool for the label carrier strip which has passedthe die, the strip having an indirect course from the line of action ofthe die to the winding spool, means for intermittently operating the dieand strip delivering means, and strip guiding means engaging the stripin said course and including two guides movable together about a commonaxis, such movement of each guide being a bodily movement transverselyof the course of the strip, the one of said guides nearer to the line ofaction of the die also being nearer to said common axis, such movementof the guides in one direction about said common axis permitting thestrip to move toward the die axis and withdraw away from the path of asurface receiving the label.

7. A label-applying machine for transferring labels from a label carrierstrip to a receiving surface, comp-risirrg a rotary die having asegmental active surface, la'bel carrier strip delivery means fordelivering the label carrier strip to the die with successive labels inregister with the die, a winding spool for the label carrier strip whichhas passed the die, the strip having an indirect course from the line ofaction of the die to the winding spool,

means tending to drive the strip delivering means, means for restrainingthe strip delivering means, strip guiding means movable bodilytransversely of the course of the strip to modify said course in amanner tending materially to enlarge said course, and means including acam rotatable with the die for releasing said restraining means andmoving said strip guiding means.

8. A label-applying machine comprising a rotary die having a segmentalsurface for transferring labels from a label-carrier strip to areceiving surface, label-carrier strip delivery means for delivering thelabel-carrier strip to the die with successive labels in register withthe die, the machine including guiding elements engaging thelabel-carrier strip which has passed the die, and means for tensioningsaid strip, the one of said guiding elements which is the first toengage the strip after passage of the strip past the line of action ofsaid die being bodily shiftable in different directions whichrespectively permit the strip to approach nearer to the die axis andcause the strip to 'move farther away from the die axis, and means forso shifting the aforesaid first guiding element in such timed relationto the rotation of the die as topresent the strip nearer to the die axisduring transfer action of said segment-a1 surface of the die than duringidle rotation of said segmentalsurface.

9. A label-applying machine as claimed in claim 8 in which the firstguiding element through its shifting tends to affect the length of strippath and a further one of said strip guiding elements is simultaneouslybodily shiftable in directions in which it tends to affect the length ofthe strip path oppositely to the tendency of the first guiding element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,874,499 Gottscho et a1 Feb. 24, 1959 2,880,539 Frenkel et al Apr. 7,1959 2,914,875 Levy Dec. 1, 1959

8. A LABEL-APPLYING MACHINE COMPRISING A ROTARY DIE HAVING A SEGMENTALSURFACE FOR TRANSFERRING LABELS FROM A LABEL-CARRIER STRIP TO ARECEIVING SURFACE, LABEL-CARRIER STRIP DELIVERY MEANS FOR DELIVERING THELABEL-CARRIER STRIP TO THE DIE WITH SUCCESSIVE LABELS IN REGISTER WITHTHE DIE, THE MACHINE INCLUDING GUIDING ELEMENTS ENGAGING THELABEL-CARRIER STRIP WHICH HAS PASSED THE DIE, AND MEANS FOR TENSIONINGSAID STRIP, THE ONE OF SAID GUIDING ELEMENTS WHICH IS THE FIRST ENGAGETHE STRIP AFTER PASSAGE OF THE STRIP PAST THE LINE OF ACTION OF SAID DIEBEING BODILY SHIFTABLE IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS WHICH RESPECTIVELY PERMITTHE STRIP TO APPROACH NEARER TO THE DIE AXIS AND CAUSE THE STRIP TO MOVEFARTHER AWAY FROM THE DIE AXIS, AND MEANS FOR SO SHIFTING THE AFORESAIDFIRST GUIDING ELEMENT IN SUCH TIMED RELATION TO THE ROTATION OF THE DIEAS TO PRESENT THE STRIP NEARER TO THE DIE AXIS DURING TRANSFER ACTION OFSAID SEGMENTAL SURFACE OF THE DIE THAN DURING IDLE ROTATION OF SAIDSEGMENTAL SURFACE.